Continuing to create music with someone after the personal relationship that brought you together has ended is no small feat. For Boy Harsher, their new album GET MEAN, released last September, emerged from this difficult situation, turning loss, grief and separation into a story of survival and renewal. Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller remain true to the dark aesthetic that first brought them recognition, while exploring brighter, more pop-oriented directions without losing any of their identity.
The pair met while studying film in Savannah, Georgia, and began working together under the name Teen Dreamz, with Matthews writing and narrating stories and Muller composing the music to accompany them. In 2014, they adopted the name Boy Harsher and released their debut EP, Lesser Man, featuring “Pain”, a track that went on to become one of the decade’s biggest underground anthems.
Their debut album, Yr Body Is Nothing (2016), and the Country Girl EP (2017) helped establish them in the contemporary darkwave scene, while Careful (2019) expanded their sonic palette, combining minimalist beats, dark synths and Matthews’ distinctive, sensual voice. In 2022, with The Runner, the soundtrack to the short film of the same name, which they created themselves, they brought their musical and cinematic work even closer together.
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